Anglo beats forecast but no divi yet

  & lt;p & gt;Shares in Anglo-American dipped in early trading following the US discount rate decision but there was good news for investors as the company reported a bigger-than expected profit in 2009 and said it expects to resume divided payments this year. Net profits sank to & #36;2.6bn ( & pound;1.7bn) from & #36;5.2bn, while operating profit also halved to & #36;5bn from & #36;10.1bn compared with the previous year. The company achieved & #36;1.6bn in cost savings after shedding 23,000 jobs to fight the recession. & igrave;We & iacute;ve made significant progress across the board, delivering on exceeding our targets, & icirc; chief executive Cynthia Carroll said at the results presentation. & igrave;We except to resume the dividend in respect of 2010. Anglo & iacute;s rivals Rio Tinto and Xstrata both resumed dividends last week after strengthening their finances in 2009 through rights issues. Anglo, which fought off a hostile bid from Xstrata last year, is cutting debt through disposals. Last year it raised & #36;2.4bn from the sales of assets, mainly from a stake in AngloGold Ashanti. Earlier this week, it agreed to sell parts of its Tarmac construction materials unit for & #36;400m. & lt;/p & gt; & lt;p & gt;Anglo revealed it paid & pound;51m to advisers in defending itself against Xstrata. & lt;/p & gt; & lt;p & gt; Anglo shares were down 1.66% at 2460.5 at 0910GMT. & lt;/p & gt;  

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